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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

sulfhydryl-terminated, self-assembled monolayers, gold

College

Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Department

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Abstract

Self-assembled monolayers (SAM’s) on gold have been extensively studied during the past 20 years because of their use in biochemical surface recognition, as nanotechnological structures, as nano-chemical wires and circuits in electronics, as a means of creating patterned surfaces, as sensors to monitor various chemical levels, and to attach proteins and other biomolecules to surfaces.1 In 1994 Offord et al.2 prepared series of mixed monolayers on gold using different proportions of t-butylthiol and 1-octadecanethiol. When monolayers were prepared from ethanolic solutions, anomalous surface properties were observed at intermediate t-butylthiol solution concentrations. They attributed the higher than expected thicknesses and lower than expected water contact angles to 1-octadecanethiol molecules physisorbed into vacancies in the monolayer created by t-butylthiol. Here we reconfirm the water contact angle and ellipsometric measurements that were previously performed and additionally use X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to establish the anomalous behavior of these mixed monolayers on gold.

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